Method of making lined bearings



Nov. 13, 1928.

\ 1,691,073 w. H. KLOCKE METHOD OF MAKING LINED BEARINGS Filed June 5,1928 I N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEY6 Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. WILLIAM H. KLCCKE, OF WOODHAVEN,'NI"W YORK, ASSIGNOB TO THE CLEVELANDGRAPHITE BRONZE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

IIETHOD F BAKING LINED BEARINGS.

Application filed June 5, 1928. Serial No. 282,971. I

The present invention, relating, as indicated, to a lined bearing and amethod of making same, is particularly directed to a new and improvedbearing consisting of a body or supporting element formed of strip stockand an inner layer or lining of hearing metal permanently united to thesupporting shell over the entire area of contact, and to a method ofcommerically and economically manufacturing the same. The principalobject of the invention is the provision of a. bearing of the characterreferred to in which a strong and uniform bond is'obtained bet-weenshell and bearing met-a1 and the method hereinafter described for makingthe samesatisfactorily and commercially from fiat strip stock. A furtherobject of the invention is the provision of a method of making linedbearings from resilient high tensile strength sheet stock of low costwhich will allow of securin the advantages flowing from the use of t issuperior material during the application of the bearing metal withoutthe removal or loss of these qualities' 2 This invention constitutes acontinuation in part of .my previous application 'Serial No. 246,819,.onlined bearing and method of making same.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention,then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claims; the annexed drawings and the followingdescription setting forth in detail one method and one productexemplifying my invention, such disclosed procedure andproductconstituting, however, but one of various applications of the principlesof my invention.

In said annexed drawings 1i Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a str1p ofrolled sheet metal stock;-Fig. 2 is a 'side elevation showing said stripin the process of manufacture; Fig. 3 is aplan view of a blank formedfrom said strip; Fig. 4 is a side 5 elevation of the blank of Fig. 3showing in dotted lines the excess length given to the blank; .Fig. 5 isa side elevation showing the blank after the first step in the formingof the same into a closed cylindrical shell; Fig. 6 is a similar viewshowing the blank of the next step in the formation of the same; Fig. 7is a similar view showin the blank after the final forming into a c sedcylindrical shell;

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing the final forming or setting operation;Fig. 9 is a partial end elevation showing the butt or joint produced inthe shell by the forming operations; Fig. 10 is a transverse section ofthe shell after the bearing metal has been applied to-the inner surfacethereof Fig. 11 is a fragmentary end View of the finished bearingshowing the joint in the outer shell; and Fig. 12 is a fragmentary endelevation showing the thickening of the shell adjacent to thejointfromthe forming and setting operations.

Bearings formed of various materials, such as brass, bronze or the like,and lined with bearing material, such for example as babbitt or similarmaterial, have been made for many years, both as semi-cylindricalarticles and also as cylindrical shells which may then in some cases besplit to serve as half bearings. Bearings of this character have alsobeen formed using a hard metal, such as steel, for the supporting shell,and in the manufacture of such bearings seamless tubing has beenuniversally employed for the outer or p supporting element, the tubingbeing cut into suitable lengths, and lined with babbitt, and

latersplit if desired into lined half bear-- ings for various uses.

I have devised a method of producing steel-backed babbitt lined bearingsemploying flat resilient sheet stock, such as steel, as the materialfrom which the outer shell is formed, thus effecting a very substantialsaving in cost of the material and producing what has been found to beasuperior bearing at a relatively low cost.

In producing the tubular shells which are to be babbitted I employ astrip 1 of rolledsheet stock which has been passed through various setsof rolls 2 to produce in the stock a certain resilience and also adistinct grain running longitudinally of the material and a metalstructure which is extremely tough and hard and of high tensilestrength, but of relative low cost. It will be understood that sheetstock, whether formed by rolling or other methods, may be employedprovided that it possesses the qualities and properties describedherein. From the strip of stock I a cut rectangular blanks 3 havingtheir reatest dimension extending transversely of the str1p and.thusbri-nging the grain in the blank as indicated by the dotted linesin Fig. 3. The

grain is thus extending transversely of the blank, thus facilitating theforming opera tions' and making it possible to produce very much moreregular arcs of curvature in the blank.v i

" I have found that in order top'roduce a perfect-ly tight leak-proofbutt or joint between the meeting edges of. the blank when bent intocylindrical form it is essential to cut the blank 3 to a slightlygreater length than that actually required to form a cylinder of thedesired diameter and circumference. words, an excessamount of material1s introduced into the blank, thepurpose of which will presently bedescribed.

It, is also desirable to preliminarily bend the ends of the blank toacurvature approximating that finally given these ends in the shell inorder to cause the endsto meet square-- lywhen formed in the dies, thuspreventing the edge of one end from cutting into the fiat portion of theother end, and also preventing the outer edges of the two ends fromhearing against the die surfaces, which would cause either rounding ofthese edges or excessive.

wear on the die. Furthermore, it is very desirable to preliminarily formthe-center of the blank to a'curvature of a less radius B than the finalcurvature C of the completed shell in order to increase the pressureexisting across the butt or joint in the final shell, and to facilitatethe bending of the two halves of the strip or blank during the finalforming operation. By forming the shell with the precaution noted aboveI have succeeded in producing a' joint-which isatight against any or-'dinary internal .pressure commonly'met with iii-thev casting of bearingmaterial, such as babbitt, against the inner surface of the shell.

The blank'a is provided with excess material, as=indicated bytheportions beyond the dottedline A, (see Fig. 4). This blank is then=placed in suitable dies and theends 7 thereof curvedjtoward each otherin the manner indicated in Fig. 5, these ends being given a curvatureapproximating that desired for these portions" of the blank in thefinished shell. The blank in the form shown in Fig.

5 is then placed'across the die 5 (see Fig. 6),

which die is provided with a semi-cylindrical opening 6 therein having aradius of curvature less than the desired radius of curvature of thefinished cylindrical bearing. The blank is then pressed into the openingin this die by means of a complementary descendingdie (not shown),engaging centrally of the upper surface of the strip 3. Following thisoperation the blank in the form shown in Fig.

6 is placed in the second die 8 (see-Fig. 7) and the partially openedblank is then closed by means of the die 9, which is provided with a,

semi-cylindrical recess therein engaging In other against the uppercurved ends of the blank, forcing the metal of the blank radiallyoutward against the cylindrical die surface and at the same time causingthe curved upper ends of the blank to move around Within the recess inthe upper die 9 until they, meet to the length of the'strip whichbecomes the outside of the cylinder, or both. I secure a tightleak-proof joint by etfecting a flow of the metal in the strip in themanner indicated in Fig. -9, in which the dotted lines 11, 12 indicatethe positions which would be assumed bythe originalend surfaces of thestrip if there were no flow of the" metal, and the joint 10 indicatesthe positionassumedby the ends of the strip by reason 'of'the flow ofmetal to such an extent that the strip ends are forced into a closeengagement all-over their end planes. Not only is the metal caused to'flow as there indicated, but the excess metal in the original blank is"forced to flow into this joint and then to back up or be.

upset over a portion ofeach endofthe strip extending roughly from theplane of the butt I to points some 90 degrees away from the butt,-'asindicated in Figs. 9 and12.

In order to produce an engagement between the-ends of thestrip over aplane'equal in width to-the width of thes't'rip there must be excessstockin theblank purpose, and by providing a still .great'erexcess" ofstock not only is the tiglitnessjof the joint assured but an excess flowor upsetting. action is produced which slightly increases thethiclmess'of'the blank on either side of the butt. As the dies 8 and}!are formed with complementary recesses, which together outline a truecylinder, all of the upsetting of the stock must take place radiallyinwardly so that while the outside of the shell remains a true cylinderthe inside is less than a cylinder, and the metal must be removed toproduce atruly cylindricalopening in the shell.

Afterthe forming of theshell, as shown in Fig. 7, the shell is turnedthrough an angle and is again struck: within the same dies, (see Fig. 8)in order to set the metal in this new condition, after which "theshellsare removed, and, dependin upon the amount of thickness adjacent to t ebutt, they are either machined-to bring the hole in the shell tocylindrical form or, if the thickening be extreme- .ly slight, they maybe lined directly without casting operations.

shell in order to produce concentric inner and outer surfaces in thefinal bearing.

-By the method of manufacture just scribed a shell may be formed havinga oint which is leak-proof against any ordinary in ternal pressure suchas is met with in ordinary This tightness is produced from the real areaof contact between the adjacent strip ends, which area has a radialdepth approximating the thickness of the blank and is made possible bythe flowing of the metal in the manner already described.

in the new relationship, carrying the metal past the elastic limit andovercomin any tendency to-open at the joint, and, whi e not alwaysnecessary is-of particularadvantage in certain cases where resilientmaterial and considerble thickness of stock is employed.

The shell shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 12 is next brought to a condition ofuniform wall thickness incases where material upsetting and thickeningof the stock has occurred either by machining or breaching away theexcess metal.

In cases of thin-walled shells where the upsettinglisrelatively slightthis operation may sometimes be omitted, but will result of course in areduced thickness of bearing metal overlying these portions of the shellwhich have been thickened.

The cylindrical reinforcing shell, either machined on the inside or not,is next cleaned and then subjected to such preliminary operations as arenecessary to enable the bearing material, such as babbitt, to be unitedthereto. For example, the shell may be cleaned with acid, then treatedwith bearing material such as tin, and then placed in a centrifugalcasting machine which rotates the bearings at high speed while supplyingmolten babbitt to the interior, causing this material to unite with thetin surface of the shell and to position itself concentrically withinthe shell. In this way subsequent operations are facilitated andexcesswe waste of babbitt is avoided since there is'no'eccentricitybetween shell-and lining which would resultin uneven machining of thebabbitt lining. It will be understood that the tin, if used, alloyswith.

the babbitt when the latter is applied and unites integrally anduniformly with the surface of the shell, closing the butt and forming asmooth lining thereacross.

ll'hether the lining material is cast centrifugally or otherwise appliedthe shell and li'ning should be cooled ra idly and a low melt ing pointmaterial shou d be used for the lining in order to prevent anysubstantial annealing of the metal of the shell. Also the pressureacting across the butt should be kept below an amount that would tend todistort the shell contour if the complete shell 'be later split into twohalf bearings.

My improved article isan extremely strong and relatively inexpensivelined bearing consisting of a metal shell, to which bt-zaning materialis uniformly united. This article may be then split for the manufactureof half bearings but may be advantageously processed during the greaterportion of the remainder of the manufacturing operations by being leftin this cylindrical condition,

since the joint is tight and there is a considerabl pressure acrossthe-joint. The pressure results both from the forming of the blank andalso from the welding or soldering effect of the lining, which in somecases penetrates into the joint and acts as an intermediate adhesivebetween the abutting ends over a portion of their surfaces. Again byreason of the material from which the blank is formed and the directionof the grain in the blank, the shell is enabled to be readily formed,and the tendency to open is minimized, making it possible to secure aleak proof butt, which is greatly to be desired by reason of thesimplifying of the subsequent operations and apparatus employed.

It will'be understood that by the term babbitt as used in the foregoingdescription, I include various metals and metal alloys suitable forbearing purposes and do not intend the term to be construed-in anystrict sense or to indicate any specific alloy or composition.Similarly, while I preferably em-- ploy steel for the sheet metal fromwhich the blanks and shells are formed, othersuitable metals and alloysmay be used which lend themselves to the operations to be performed andpossess the required characteristics of relatively low cost and internalgrain structure.

Other forms may be employed embodying the features of my inventioninstead of the one here explained, change being made in the form orconstruction, provided the elementsstatedby any of the following claims,or the equivalent of such stated elementsbe bearings, the stepswhich'consist in forming a rectangular blank from sheet stock having aconsiderable tensile strength and inherent resiliency, forming saidblank into a cylindrical shell with the grain of the metal in. saidblank extending longitudinally of said shell while flowing the metalcircumferentially into an end engagement having a raa considerabletensile strength and inherent resiliency, forming said blank into acylin drical shell with the grain of the metal in said blank extendinglongitudinally of said shell while flowing the metal circumferentiallyinto an end engagement having a radial depth approximating the thicknessof the blank and having an opposed pressure in the metal acting acrosssuch engaging ends to maintain the same in closed engagement by theinherent resiliency of the metal, and then castin a bearingalloy, of amelting point insu cient to cause any appreciable annealing of the metalof the shell, integrally over the inner surface-of said shell.

3. In a method of making lined tubular bearings, the steps which consistinforming a blank from sheet stock of greater length than thecircumference'of the desired finished bearing forming said blank into acylindrical shell while causing the excess metal in the blank to flowcircumferentially into an end engagement having a radial depthapproximating the thickness of the blank and also to thicken radiallyadjacent such end engagement, and then casting a layer of bearing metalover the inner surface of said shell.

4. In .a method of making lined tubular bearings, the steps whichconsist in forming a blank from sheet stock of a length in excess of thecircumference of the desired bearing to be formed, forming said blankinto a cylindrical shell while producing a thickening of the metal wallthereof adjacent to the joint formed therein, removing the excess metalfrom a portion of the inner Wall of the shell adjacent to the joint, andthen casting a layer of bearing metal over the inner surface of saidshell.

5. In a method of making lined tubular bearings, the steps which consistin forming a blank from sheet stock of a length in excess of the outercircumferential'length of the bearing. desired to be formed therefrom,and

' forming said blank into a shell having a cylindrical outer wall and aradial thickness progressively thicker than the original. thickness ofthe blank at points approaching the joint therein, and then casting alayer of bearing metal over the inner surface of said shell.

6. In a method'of making lined tubular bearings, the steps which consistin forming bearing allo neenovs a rectangular blank from sheet stock,initiallybending the ends of said blank to a curv- I ature approximatingthe curvature of said ends in a cylinder formed therefrom, forming thecentral portion of said blank to a curvature of lesser radius than theradius of the shell to be formed from said blank, and then closing saidformed blank and simultaneously causing the metal adjacent the ends ofsaid blank to flow circumferentially into an end engagement having aradial depth approximating the thickness of the blank, and then castinga layer of bearing metal over the inner surface of said shell.

7. In a method of making lined split tubular bearings, the steps whichconsist in forming a blank from sheet stock, forming said blank into atightly closed cylindrical shell by flowing the metal in the blankcircumferentially into an end engagement having a radial depthapproximating the thickness of the blank, While maintaining thethickness of the blank at not less than the original thickness,integrally uniting a, layer of a overthe surface of said shell, andthensp itting said shell upon a diametral plane.

8. In a method of making lined tubular bearings, the steps which consistin forminga blank from sheet stock having a considerable tensilestrength and inherent resiliency, forming said blank into a cylindricalshell While flowing the metal circumferentially into an end engagementhaving a radial depth approximating the thickness of the blank,

uniting a bearing alloy over the surface of said shell. v

9. In a method of making lined split tubular bearings, the steps whichconsistin form ing a blank from sheet stock having a'considerableltensile strength and inherent. resiliency, forming said blank into acylindrical shell While flowing the metal circumferentially into an endengagement having a radial depth approximating the thickness of theblank, and having an opposed pressure in the metal acting across suchengaging ends to maintain thev same in closed engagement by theinherentresiliency of the metal, integrally uniting a bearing alloy overthe surface of said shell, and then splitting said shell upon a.diametralplane. v

10. In a method of making lined split tubular bearings, the steps"'which consist-in forming a blank from sheet stock, forming said blankinto a tightly closed cylindrical shell by an, encircling operationproducing upsetting of the metal adjacent the ends of said blank,integrally uniting a layer of bearing alloy over the surface of saidshell, and

then splitting said shell upon a diametral plane.

11. In a method 'ofmaking lined split tubular bearings, the steps whichconsist in form-' ing a blank from sheet stock of greater length thanthe circumference of the desired finished bearin forming said blank intoa cylindrical she I while causing the excess metal in the blank to beupset into an end engagement having a radial depth approximating thethickness of the blank, integrally uniting a layer of bearing alloy overthe inner surface of said shell, and then splitting said shell upon adiametra-lplane.

12. In a metho of making lined split tubu larbearings, the steps whichconsist in forming a rectangular blank from sheet stock, i111- tiallybending the ends of said. blank to a curvature approximating thecurvature of said ends in a cylinder formed therefrom, forming the:central portion of said blank to a curvature of lesser radius than theradius of the shell to be formed therefrom, closing I said formed blankand simultaneousl ing the metal adjacent the ends of said blank to beupset-into an end engagement having a radial depth approximating thethickness 01. the blank, integrally unitlng a layer of bearing allo overthe inner surface of said shell, and t 'en' splitting said shell upon adiametral plane.

13. In a inethod of making cylindrical shells for lined tubularbearings, the steps Which consist informing a blank from sheet stock ofgreater length than the circumference of the desired finished bearing,and ,forming said blank into a cylindrical shell while causing theexcess metal in the blank to be upset into an end engagement having aradial de th approximatmg the thickness of the blank a Signed by me,this 26th day of May, 1928.

WILLIAM H. KLOOKE.

